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Nate-
"GrizzlyAdams" from the hammock forums here.
The last couple of days I've been at a meeting at West Point.
I know the AT goes by close to there, over (as it happens)
the Bear Mountain Bridge (over the Hudson River)
after which the JRB hammock is named.

At at 11:15 today (Friday, 28 Sept) I was driving south on highway 9W heading to the airport,
about a mile or two on the west side the bridge, and I passed someone that might have
been you (I've seen pictures recently in the gallery for a Ed Speers hang a while ago).
My impression was of a thru-hiker, but rumor is that you're tall and I was not immediately
struck by height. The pack was on the large side but not as large as I might expect.
The hiker had a face like yours, glasses, and a handerchief on his head.

I've been reading your journal and did a mental calculation that it _could possibly_
be you. The initial undercertainties and my disinclination to approach a complete
stranger and ask if he was the Hammock Engineer kept me from pulling over immediately.
A couple miles later I figured I had to ask, just in case. Backtracking, though the hiker was
gone.

In case it was you, sorry I missed you. Seems a long shot, but...

I'm enjoying your journal. Are you typing all that out with your thumbs????

You know that had to be me. That was pretty much when I was walking down there. I took a town night and stayed at the holiday inn there. I was walking back to the trail then.

No way you could have known, but it would have been fun to meet you and chat. The more I think about it, that is pretty strange. I wouldn't expect to be driving in a car out of town and see someone I know walking down the street.

If you make it this way again let me know. I am skipping the gathering though. I want to take a couple days off in unionville and rest up. The mayor there lets hikers stay at his house.

Oh and yeah I am typing with my thumbs. I am getting better, but it still is a lot slower than a keyboard. If I do this again, or when, I am going to look into PDA phones with a seperate keyboard. I just need to find one that will let you compose emails when you don't have cell service. That was the downfall of my phone.

But, the universe operates like that, I often find. Why, when the lead proponent of the DIY Bridge Hammock thread on HF is crossing the namesake of the first commercial Bridge Hammock, of course he's going to happen upon the only member of HF with a Thru-Hike in progress. That's just too great an irony NOT to happen. You could have almost predicted it!

Last edited by angrysparrow; 09-30-2007 at 22:11.
Reason: Added second part.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

But, the universe operates like that, I often find. Why, when the lead proponent of the DIY Bridge Hammock thread on HF is crossing the namesake of the first commercial Bridge Hammock, of course he's going to happen upon the only member of HF with a Thru-Hike in progress. That's just too great an irony NOT to happen. You could have almost predicted it!

It gets better. You may recall that a while ago Nate hurt himself and was looking for a bridge hammock so he could take the pressure off his tailbone when sleeping. I talked with him about taking my second version, although at the time I wasn't sure how to do spreader bars on the trail other than trail sticks. In parallel he contacted JRB and they shipped him a prototype of their BMBH, so mine stayed home. As far as I know he is still carrying it (although I recall a TJ entry where he expresses his intention to swap back to his own gear somewhere down trail.)

So, the lead proponent of the DIY Bridge Hammock thread on HF just happened to be crossing the namesake bridge for the first/only commercial Bridge Hammock at exactly the same time as that namesake bridge was being crossed on a 2000+ mile Thru-Hike by a gear tester for that commercial hammock on what might just be the first time that hammock has been carried across it's own namesake...

Oh my!

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

So, the lead proponent of the DIY Bridge Hammock thread on HF just happened to be crossing the namesake bridge for the first/only commercial Bridge Hammock at exactly the same time as that namesake bridge was being crossed on a 2000+ mile Thru-Hike by a gear tester for that commercial hammock on what might just be the first time that hammock has been carried across it's own namesake...

Oh my!

perhaps not soo scary, in that the encounter wasn't on the bridge itself, but within several hundred yards of the bridge. Replace "be crossing" above with "within eyeshot" and you've got the story.

So, the lead proponent of the DIY Bridge Hammock thread on HF just happened to be crossing the namesake bridge for the first/only commercial Bridge Hammock at exactly the same time as that namesake bridge was being crossed on a 2000+ mile Thru-Hike by a gear tester for that commercial hammock on what might just be the first time that hammock has been carried across it's own namesake...

Oh my!

Seems not. His trail journal entry talks about his first night back in his own gear, so I can only imagine that he sent the BMBH prototype back. He'd been doing a lot of staying in shelters prior to this, it seems he couldn't stay warm in the loaner. I don't think he's been specific about what the issues there were, or what he uses for his own hammock to stay warm that wouldn't worm for the BMBH.